Sometimes I ask you
with a chuckle
then realize in a fever flash
you’re
not here
anymore
in city summer
heat, with me on this subway
slouching against
orange seats
in this green apple
where school kids
subsist on Doritos & Pepsi
slogging sticky backpacks
through another searing June
hungry for help
do homework hungry on
wooden benches
in the station
because it is cool & free
with a public toilet to pee
because some have
no toilet
nor bed
nor Ebenezer Scrooge to
free them from debt
so I scurry down the platform
pass the unlucky
(as they look a little too much like me)
and stand with my head down
not far from the edge.
—
Stacey Z Lawrence is a veteran teacher of Poetry and Drama and the author of Fall Risk published through Finishing Line Press in 2021. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart and Fish prizes. She is a poet for “Writing The Land” a collaboration between Poets and protected land. She holds an MAT in Speech Arts and Dramatics and lives in South Orange, New Jersey.
